Meet the designers for Laine Issue 19
In Laine Magazine 19, we present designs from eleven outstanding designers from around the world. Meet Alexandra Atepaeva, Jennifer Brou, Maxim Cyr, Ronja Hakalehto, Helga Isager, Pauliina Leisti, Agata Mackiewicz, Yukie Onodera, Marie Régnier, Jacqueline van Dillen and Veera Välimäki.
Alexandra Atepaeva
Alexandra Atepaeva lives in The Netherlands and is a brand and marketing specialist by trade, but she is currently exploring knitwear design and hoping to turn her obsession into a full-time job. Alexandra loves nature and textures created by the play of light and shadow and draws her inspiration mostly from these. She likes a modern, minimalistic, clean look with an interesting detail.
Alexandra's Crisp Morning vest is a fun, minimalist garment with unique texture.
Jennifer Brou
Jennifer Brou lives in South Portland, Maine, USA. Along with her design work, she teaches at the Maine College of Art & Design. As a designer, her main source of inspiration is nature. Jennifer says she is a daydreamer – but also someone who enjoys careful planning and execution. One of her greatest strengths is her ability to use knitting to combine these different aspects of herself.
For this issue, Jennifer designed the Kettle Cove vest that makes use of different techniques to create an interesting fabric.
Maxim Cyr
Maxim Cyr always aims to mix modern with traditional in his designs. He comes from the graphic design field and used to work as a children’s book illustrator for 15 years before becoming a full-time knitwear designer. Maxim lives in Montréal, Canada, and is the co-owner of the knitting brand Les Garçons. His passion is stranded colourwork: it is a great way to take his love of drawing to a knitted garment.
Maxim’s Nightfall pattern is an elaborate colourwork yoke sweater knitted from the top down.
Ronja Hakalehto
Ronja Hakalehto comes from the small town of Taivalkoski in Northern Finland, where she lives by a lake and immersed in nature. She is a full-time knitwear designer and has her own studio in an old barn next to her home. Besides designing, she teaches handcrafts once a week at the local school. Ronja loves rustic Finnish wool and creates timeless designs that you can wear both in the city and the forest.
For this issue, Ronja designed Puhuri: a colourwork hat knitted with wool and silk/mohair held together.
Helga Isager
Helga Isager comes from Denmark and lives partly in Copenhagen with her husband and two kids, and partly in Tversted in Northern Jutland, where her and her mother’s yarn company, Isager, is situated. Helga puts effort into making well-fitted garments with neat finishing and attention to detail: when you spend hours and hours knitting, it’s important that you end up with a timeless garment in a great quality of yarn.
Helga’s Ryoanji skirt has beautiful rib details created by working increases and staggering the rib.
Pauliina Leisti
Pauliina Leisti lives in Tuusula, Finland, working as an entrepreneur and mostly focusing on knitwear design; previously, she has also run her own womenswear brand. The key elements of her style are comfort and feel. Pauliina likes oversized garments, seamlessly knitted sweaters, earthy colours and wool and other natural materials.
Pauliina’s Softis is a relaxed jumper worked in Stockinette Stitch, with raglan sleeves and a folded, loose, turtleneck collar.
Agata Mackiewicz
Agata Mackiewicz comes from Warsaw, Poland. Knitting and designing are her hobbies, which she spends all her spare time on. Her main sources of inspiration are nature and art nouveau, but she also loves a romantic style and tries to incorporate some of that into her projects. Subtle, botanical lace, picot edge, twisted stitches and plump cables are her favourites.
For this issue’s Golden Oak shawl, Agata combined enchantingly leafy lace and a relaxing body pattern.
Yukie Onodera
Yukie Onodera — known in social media as Derako (Knitail) — comes from the Miyagi Prefecture, north of Tokyo in Japan. She has a full-time office job while also working as a knitwear designer. Yukie designs mainly socks, ranging from simple to more complex patterns, and she always aims for them to be easy to combine with other clothing.
For this issue, Yukie designed fun, multicoloured Houndstooth socks, worked cuff-down with a heel flap.
Marie Régnier
Marie Régnier lives near Paris, France. Her primary profession is as a banking adviser, but during her maternity leave, she also started designing knitwear. Marie likes to work with fine wool and intricate stitch patterns, and she knits anywhere and at any time: even if she only has a minute or two, she grabs her wip.
Marie’s Plumette pattern is a top-down, raglan sweater, worked with one strand of lace-weight silk/mohair yarn.
Jacqueline van Dillen
Jacqueline van Dillen comes from the Netherlands and started her career as a designer and a stylist for a yarn manufacturer, then worked on the editorial board of a home decor magazine. Now, she is concentrating full-time on her greatest passion: knitting. Jacqueline likes clean lines, and her choice of colour is almost always subdued. She likes to create nice inset sleeves and add small special details to her designs.
For this issue, Jacqueline designed Betula: a timeless and relaxed cardigan that is easy to combine with any outfit.
Veera Välimäki
Veera Välimäki is one of the leading knitwear designers in the world, known for her knits with simple, clean lines and modern details. Veera lives and works in a small village in Southern Finland surrounded by forests, fields and lakes. She is also the author of numerous knitting books, such as Stripes, published by Laine Publishing in 2021.
Veera’s Double Bubble sweater features dropped shoulders, tapered sleeves and a gorgeous deep V-neck.
Learn more:
Get your copy of Laine Magazine Issue 19
Pattern previews for Laine 19
Subscribe to Laine Magazine and save 12€!